Whatever happened long ago, it's still important to give thanks

By Cynthia Stead

Thursday

Nov 28, 2019 at 3:00 AMNov 28, 2019 at 12:19 PM

Next year will be the 400th anniversary of the celebration in Plymouth by passengers and crew of the Mayflower after a harvest that guaranteed them enough food for the winter. Like George Washington’s cherry tree, the day has crusted over with largely untrue facts about the day, some of them heartwarming and some of them inventions. We probably hew a little closer to reality on Cape Cod, as we have Plimouth Plantation close by which provides a level of reality that debunks the mythology in other places. A neglected piece of that reality is true recognition of the role of those who were already here.

Some towns have already renamed Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day, pointing to the many inaccuracies and cover-ups that are part of the traditional holiday, and the unacknowledged effect on those who were not discovered but simply living their lives here. Smallpox-infested blankets, forced conversions to God, and relocation of thousands from their homes for convenience through abominations like the Trail of Tears. Of course, the Columbus Day name change is a cheap way out of paying the money we owe the tribes, documented in treaties signed by the United States government. Even without interest, it runs to billions of dollars which the various nations could use, rather than being thrown a dubious gambling franchise that only plunders the desperate.

Much of this stemmed from that First Encounter on Cape Cod, which Eastham may want to reconsider insisting upon given its aftermath. Unlike the Viking ships who came, saw, and left, the Pilgrims were among the early waves of Europeans like Columbus who were bent on conquest. But John Alden and corn is not all this celebration is about.

Two-hundred-thirty years ago, when Washington proclaimed the first national day of “public thanksgiving and prayer,” he said this: “We may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, the increase of science among Them and us, and generally grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows best” (even Washington snuck a little political jibe in there).

The practice of feasting may not only have been because of the Pilgrims and Wampanoag; it may also have been due to Washington donating free food and beer to imprisoned debtors in New York, where the capital was at that time.

Personally, I thank God as a child of the 1950s that I was fortunate enough to live in the United States in the second half of the "American Century." All my life, I have enjoyed a standard of hygiene, housing, and wellness unsurpassed in human history. Cleopatra on her throne did not have air conditioning. (Well, she did have an early version involving chilled water, silk threads, and slaves, but still.) I own a small and affordable house. My children live in the same town I do, and have their own homes and businesses. My chronic disability has a medicine that allows me to live a relatively normal life that would have been impossible a century ago. And so on.

We need an annual pause to be thankful for what we do have. Being thankful has never meant that all goals are accomplished; it is only pausing to reflect on the ones that have been reached and the hopes that have been fulfilled. It is the emotional acknowledgement, to whatever deity or power greater than yourself that you recognize, that you understand and appreciate the blessings that you have enjoyed, and the sustenance they have given you.

As individuals, peoples, and nations, we need such a pause in our everlasting quest for more, or better, or different. As the traditional holiday changes to recognize the people who were here first, who allowed those settlers to survive, it is to be hoped that the change will encompass our need and obligation to give thanks, because we have much to be grateful for. We will always need Thanksgiving.

Cynthia Stead of Dennis may be emailed at cestead@gmail.com.

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